The focus is on helping users find the right idea — rather than on selling products. According to a spokesperson for Surprise.com there are four major advantages to its business model.

• Conventional gift sites are designed to sell items from existing inventory, usually anywhere from 400 to 1,000 products. Surprise.com is a directory with links to more than 3,500 surprising, intriguing gift ideas that exist on the Web. Some of the gifts are even free, like tickets to see a TV show taping.

• Conventional gift sites feature broad categories (“For Him” and “Birthday”) and make users plow through lists of irrelevant products (“Motorized Tie Rack” and “Extra Large Pasta Maker”). In contrast, Surprise.com has built categories around unique qualities of the recipient, such as:

 • Works Too Much

 • Has an Unusual Sense of Humor

 • Votes for Al Gore

 • Has the Blues

 • Used to Live in New York

 • Dislikes Christmas

 • Appreciates Beautiful Things
Surprise.com offers 225 such categories. In contrast, the largest conventional gift site has about 50. With these creative categories and advanced filtering technology, users can find a unique, inspired gift for just about anybody—in seconds.

• Conventional gift sites have no way of offering non-product gifts like “maid service” and “dance lessons.” But a Surprise.com Gift Card works like a gift certificate, and runs on the Visa/Mastercard network. Givers can send a Gift Card for hundreds of services, from “bungee jumping” to “dinner delivery.”

• We all know a few “gifted” givers...people we depend on for helpful gift suggestions. Surprise.com has created a community where gifted givers can share their advice. The givers submit gift ideas, and Surprise.com editors publish the best ones. Surprise.com motivates givers to submit ideas by issuing quarterly payments of $100 for the 1,000 most popular ideas.